


Everything's working out.

by bumblehead



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie is kinda stupid, Asexual Jughead, Bi Archie, Bi Veronica, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Jughead being Agnsty, Jughead is an emotional wreck, Jughead's POV, M/M, Multi, Pan Betty, Teens being teens, Veronica and Betty are pure as always
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-22 21:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9626618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblehead/pseuds/bumblehead
Summary: Everything works out for Jughead and his newly regained friends. That's all.





	1. Chapter 1

You storm out of the Chocklit Shoppe, fists clenched tight, your bag loosely hanging off your shoulder as you walk at a fast pace.

Soon after, you hear the familiar bell sound, a quick “I’ll pay later” in your ex-best friend’s voice and footsteps behind your back. 

But you couldn’t care less. You know it’s him. You know what he wants to say. You had this conversation played out in your mind many, many times.

Yet some part of you wants to break out of the script you put together. Some part of you doesn’t want to yell and cuss once he grabs your fragile shoulders and turns you around, apologizing in the most pathetic of ways.

 

Some part of you wants to sigh, shake your head calmly, say “it’s okay” and let him be your friend again. You like that vision of the future. 

You always loved thinking about how independent and strong you are. You loved thinking about how you can be that lone wolf, who despite being lonely and quiet, has some sort of respect from people.

But thoughts are almost never reality. You’re nothing without him. You’re nothing without your friends. You’re ready to accept that. 

 

You’re ready to fall into Archie’s arms and hug him in the most pathetic of ways. You want him to grab your shoulders, walk you to his car, wipe your salty tears away and fix your hair, all while comforting you and apologizing.

But he would never do that. He’s not like that. Sometimes you wish you could scold yourself for making up such childish scenarios.

You stop, realizing he’s standing right behind you. And it happens.

He grabs your shoulders, squeezing tight and turning you around. He looks confused, sorry and mostly just… ashamed of himself.

 

And you? You’re a fucking mess. There’s tears in your eyes. You’re shaking. Your teeth are stopping your lower lip from trembling and your stupid mouth from whimpering and sobbing. 

He looks shocked now. He hasn’t seen you like this since you were both 9. Must be a real game changer for him.

“…Jughead. Come on.” His grip loosened up. He grabbed your hand. Led you to his car. 

 

Is this really happening? Or did you pass into a food coma? Got hit by a car? Are you in heaven? Or is this hell? You can’t tell. 

You can feel yourself giving yourself into his arms. Into his charm. You let him lead you, you let him open the door for you, you let him sit you down.

“Jughead. Jugs. I’m so sorry.” He’s so freaked out right now. “Calm down. Please. I’ve been such an idiot.”

You wipe your eyes with your sleeves and groan.

 

“…Damn straight, Andrews.” You shake your head and look at him. “You were always somewhere on that mouthbreather spectrum, huh?”

He doesn’t reply. Instead, he brushes your hair out of your sight and cups your face in his rough hands. 

 

“…Yeah. Yeah, Jugs. I’m so sorry.” He says, his voice breaking. That’s new. “What can I do to fix this?”

You sigh. 

“…I’ll think about it.”


	2. Honest Talk

It’s been about a week. And you still can’t embrace the memory of that night. Sure, it happened, but at what cost? How’d it happen? What’d you do? These thoughts, these feelings are indescribable.

And that makes it even worse. Anything, any feelings, thoughts, memories that can’t be saved on your Mac as a .txt file is not something you’d like to deal with.

 

Yet there you are, sitting with him at Pop’s, mostly just lured with a promise of free food and a honest talk. You even left your laptop at home, since Archie asked so nicely.

And you’re definitely regretting that decision. Archie already ordered, so you can’t really turn back now. Now you’re both just sitting at a booth, quiet jazz music playing over Pop’s speakers, a static-like chatter filling the familiar diner.

After a few more seconds of silence, he finally spoke up.

 

“…I need to know, Jughead” He started, quiet at first. “What did I do wrong? Did I do anything wrong?”

 

“Well…” You take a moment to come up with an answer that won’t hurt him. Or not. “I’d appreciate if you finally stopped being so invested in yourself. And girls. And sex. Keep that shit to yourself, will ya?”

 

“Oh, come on” He frowned, finally looking at you. “It’s not my fault I’m being a normal teenage guy, okay?”

 

Normal teenage guy. Ouch.

 

“Oh, so now the amount of how many girls you fucked is defining how normal you are, huh?” You said angrily. “You might wanna rethink that sentence, pal.”

 

He sighed heavily, resting his head on his hand for a moment.

 

“I’m sorry- I’m still. Getting used to this.”

 

“Used to what? It’s not like I’ve changed, Archie.”

 

“Jughead, look, you just told me, okay? I need to get this figure out.”

 

“Figured out? Stop treating it like your problem. Just acknowledge it. I’m not getting laid. I’m not interested in getting laid. I don’t like girls, I don’t like boys, I’m not into any of that stuff, okay? Treat me like you did before, just don’t push this onto me.”

 

You took a break to sigh and rethink everything.

 

“You can still talk about your problems, just… Don’t try to set me up with anyone. And don’t try to make me understand. That’s all I need. Once you perfect that, I’m ready to talk.”

 

After a second of thought, he nodded. Finally.

 

“Okay. Okay, yeah. I’ll do my best, I promise. Still, be patient with me for another week or so.”

 

You nod as well. You’re ready to make that sacrifice.

 

Pop finally brings you your food. Without any hesitation, you go for the double cheeseburger. The good stuff, obviously. Been a while since you’ve had a chance to stuff your mouth and stomach like this.

 

When you’ve decided to move on to the onion rings, Archie spoke up again.

 

“Am I allowed to ask questions though?”

 

“Uh, umh.” You swallowed your food. “Sure. Go for it, dude.”

 

“Are you like. Ever gonna date anyone? Without sex, obviously, just. Romance. Holding hands, kissing, going on dates?”

 

You think about it for a moment.

 

“I guess.” You say.

 

“Would it be a guy?” He asks shyly.

 

“If I knew him well enough.” You respond calmly

 

“How long would that be?” He asks. You can see his nervousness building up. This is suspicious.

 

But before you give him an answer, you hear a familiar bell of Pop’s Diner’s door being opened and shut. You stuck your head out to see who came in and you see one familiar face, accompanied by a new one. Betty and this dark haired girl that’s been hanging around her.

They both made their way to your booth. Betty gave you and Archie her signature nice girl smile #23 and asked happily.

 

“Mind if we join you?”

 

You looked at Archie, trying to read his expression. He gave them a slightly nervous answer.

“Uh, sure thing.” He moved to the side a bit, so did you.

Veronica sat next to you, Betty sat across from you. They ordered milkshakes and waited with you, trying to strike up a conversation.

 

“So…” Veronica started. “Who’s this charming fellow?”

 

“Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third.” Betty introduced you without your consent. “But everyone calls him- “

 

“Jughead.” You finished. “Just call me Jughead.”

 

“Hm.” Veronica nodded, scanning you up and down. “Alright, Jughead. Nice to meet you. I’m Veronica Lodge.”

 

And the conversation went on. You were quiet most of the time, trying to analyze Veronica’s words and actions as best as you could. At first she seemed like a raven-hair clone of Cheryl Blossom, but you couldn’t quite detect the same bitchy, bossy, pushy vibe from her.

After about an hour of gaining information, you feel like you can trust her.

Besides, you’ve seen the way she looks at Betty. You’re sure she won’t go after Archie and lose her mind for him. You’re more than sure of that, especially after what happened when you were all leaving the diner.

 

She stopped you before you all got into Archie’s car. She pulled you aside and asked quietly.

 

“Hey Jughead, um, you and Betty are friends, right?”

 

“Uh, yeah. I guess you could say so.” You answered.

 

“Okay, well, this is… Really straightforward, I know. But do you, by any chance know…” She hesitated, bit her lip, looked down. “Is she straight?”

 

A smile formed on your face.

 

“She’s pan. Quite open about it, too.” You answered with the same discreet tone.

 

“Thank God.” She sighed with relief. “But you’re not, um, into her, right?”

 

You shook your head and flashed your asexual flag pin. You're glad you decided to wear this thing around.

She nodded with a grin.

 

“Now, tell me… How do I get her?”


	3. Surprisingly/Unsurprisingly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Jughead are friends. Good friends.

It’s been a few weeks since you met Veronica. Surprisingly, you became pretty good friends. Bonding over being queer, being misunderstood or simply just having typical teenage problems.

 

Hell, you even gave her your blog address, which usually never happens. You’ve always been a fan of internet anonymity, but you trust her enough to let her interrupt it and take a little peek.

Her blog is more of a… fashion, news, WLW kinda blog. You like it’s aesthetic. It’s got a cute theme. Unsurprisingly, she has much more followers than you. A 5,603 compared to your mere 347.

 

She’s given you a promo though. It’s great. You’ve gained like a 100 followers, even if they’re not really… The kind of people that follow you. More of these fashion, WLW and positivity bloggers instead of cryptic photography and writing blogs.

It’s fine though. Followers mean a bigger audition, a bigger audition means more recognition for your writing. It’s all gonna work out.

 

Anyway, you two sure bonded a lot over these few weeks and surprisingly, she hasn’t questioned you since. She didn’t ask if you were sure about your sexuality, if you were sure this is how you want to live your life.

Sure, she joked about it, but they were just subtle puns, enjoyable even for you. Simple little things such as “you’re going to _ace_ this test, Juggie!” to which you casually responded “Yeah, I usually get _bi_ easily”. It’s been a good time.

 

Even better, since she came around, you finally started hearing from Archie and Betty on a daily basis. And even if they haven’t told you personally, Ronnie updated you pretty regularly.

Honestly, only after some time you’ve started noticing that things have been changing. Hell, you actually started using your phone. You got a _Snapchat_. You even bought a new shirt.

 

Whether you like it or not, Veronica has made your life better. And you sure as hell are grateful for it. _Obviously_ you didn’t have a crush on her, more of a _friend crush_ , if you will.

She was one of these people you actually wanted to hug, and there were not many of these on this sad planet.

 

You two often go to Pop’s after school. She’s always treating, so you eventually got used to it and stopped asking about splitting the bill or paying this time around.

She’s even helped you with your writing a few times. That girl is like a walking reference encyclopedia and a thesaurus.

She looks over your shoulder whenever you stop tapping on your keyboard and suggests a word, usually a pretty good one that fits perfectly and adds just a little fancy swirl to your novel.

 

You’ve learned to appreciate it.

You sure did.


	4. Roadtrip preparations (Minichapter)

Another few weeks pass. The weather is certainly getting better in Riverdale. An idea of a roadtrip came up, since Archie finally got his license.

Even though you weren’t sure at first, Veronica and Betty managed to convince you to go. You decided to leave on Friday night and be back Sunday afternoon. Seems quite reasonable.

You don’t really have expectations for it. Maybe you’ll just goof around a bit, like teenagers do.

 

From your conversations with Veronica, you’ve learned that she’s definitely gonna make a move and try to ask Betty out, and since you foolishly told her about your almost legendary crush on Archie, she’s been encouraging you to do the same.

You guessed this is just a thing people do on roadtrips. Confess their love somewhere you can’t run from. Seems sadistic but damn, it’s a pretty good plan.

Still, you can’t decide if this is really something you’d like to do. Sure, you’d be a real lucky guy to be the one dating Archie Andrews, but how in the hell are you gonna do this without him hating you?

 

That’s something you had to figure out on your own.  
  


And you’ll hopefully get it while packing your bags, since you’re leaving in less than 12 hours.


	5. Long Drive

You got to Archie’s driveway at about 7:30AM, 30 minutes earlier than planned. 

However, you weren’t the first one to appear. Archie was already stuffing his bag and snacks into the trunk while Betty was doing a general checkup. Probably just making sure Archie wouldn’t set the car aflame mid-trip. 

 

“Hey guys.” You said, throwing your backpack into the car. “You got the tents, Arch?”

He nodded as a response before turning to you and smiling. That, added to the pile of thoughts about confessing your love to him, made you melt internally.

 

Luckily for you and your dignity, Veronica joined you.

 

“Hey there, A-Team. Ready to go?” She asked happily

 

“Not yet” said Archie “I have to get the drinks from the house. Betty, wanna help me?” 

 

“Sure thing.” Said Betty and followed Archie into the house.

 

After making subtle and knowing eye contact with Veronica you both got into the car, you taking the front seat and Ronnie sitting in the back. Seemed perfect. You could easily control the radio and Veronica could portion out the snacks. Perfectly reasonable.

 

When Betty and Archie got back to the car and got to their seats, you finally took off.  
Your roadtrip was actually more of a camping trip, though you all agreed to call it a roadtrip since you’d spend more time in the car anyway.

Archie and Betty switched the wheel at some point. You’ve noticed because she was the one waking you up when you stopped in the parking lot of some lousy drive-thru restaurant.

 

“I already ordered for you, bud.” You heard Archie’s voice, still through the prims of being half asleep. 

“Mm… Thanks, babe.” You answered and fixed your seat to it’s original position

 

Wait. What? Did you just. 

 

Next thing you could hear was Veronica and Betty snorting and laughing. And Archie clearing his throat. And your dignity shattering into a billion pieces in a span of literal seconds.

“I-I mean, uh-“ You started, trying to make an attempt at explaining yourself. But before you could finish, a warm-ish bag of food was thrown into your lap. 

“There you go, sweetheart.” You hear Archie’s voice and girls’ giggles again. 

 

He smiled at you, but it wasn’t a mocking smile. It was a warm, happy, reassuring smile. You smiled back.

 

Right before moving onto your food, obviously.  
None of you mentioned it for the rest of the way. And you were more than happy with. 

 

But still, hearing Archie call you sweetheart and smiling at you so calmly was something… New. Something you wanted again and again and again. Preferably until the day you die.

And something tells you that Veronica was more than right.   
You have to tell him.


	6. Campfire

After a few more hours of driving, napping and embarrassing singing, you arrived at the camping field. It was a big, clean field located next to a nice looking lake. A fancy, family friendly space. Probably Archie’s Dad’s suggestion.  
  


“Ready to set the tents up?” Asked Betty.

“I wanna be with Betty!” Exclaimed Veronica as a response.  
  


You laughed to yourself, shaking your head. This girl really doesn’t know how to be subtle.  
  


“Guess that means we share a tent, huh Juggie?” You heard Archie asking, a hint of happiness and excitement in his voice.

“Guess so, pal.” You gave him a slight smile and began pulling the necessary things from the trunk.

 

 

“Alright, so- I think- this goes… There?” You could hear Archie’s struggle from Betty and Veronica’s tent. He said he’s handle it, so you’re all just chilling and stuffing your faces with Cheetos.

“Ow, goddammit!” You hear him scowl once again. You all chuckle quietly.

“You alright there, Arch? Need help with that tent?” Asked Betty.  
  


Archie just sighed. Next thing you heard was what you easily identified as your tent falling apart again.

Betty gave you both a tired look and stormed off to help that redhead disaster.

 

 

After 20 more minutes of struggles and grunting, the second tent was set up. Everything was ready, now you could enjoy your weekend in the wild, without a care in the world.

In an hour, you managed to break out the snacks and set up a fire. You made some sausages and s’mores, told some stupid jokes and goofed around. You know. Like teens apparently do.

You took some pictures, Archie played some songs, Veronica told you some crazy NYC stories. You didn’t even notice when it got dark and all the happy families got back to their tents, campers and little cabins.

 

Veronica and Betty left you both alone about an hour later, they headed straight to their tent.

“Hey, Arch?” You spoke to your friend once the girls left. This seemed like a perfect time to make a move.

“Yeah, Juggie?”

“Remember when we talked at Pop’s some time ago? When you asked me if I’d date a guy?”

“Umh, yeah. I think I do.”

“What did you mean? Why- Why were you so specific.”  
  


You both kept your eyes on the fire, keeping your hands to yourself but staying close to the other anyway.  
  


“There was one other question I wanted to ask.”

“Oh?”

“Jughead… Would you date _me_?”  
  


You shifted to look at Archie. You blinked slowly. Before you asked for a confirmation, he spoke again.  
  


“I’m serious. Dead serious. Would you date me, Jughead Jones?”  
  


You smiled, put your hand on his and sighed in relief.  
  


“…I was just about to ask the same thing.”

That moment, both of your faces lit up.  
  


Next thing you know is that you’re most definitely making out with your legendary, forever, childhood crush. The Riverdale Heartbreaker, a football player, an amazing musician. Your bestest friend.  
  


Next thing you know you’re making out with Archie Andrews, your boyfriend.


End file.
